Monday, April 25, 2011

LOS ANGELES, CA - Wikileaks recent release of classified Guantanamo Bay documents caused even more controversy today as it was discovered that two high profile prisoners were missing from the files.

Harold Lee and Kumar Patel were made famous in the 2004 documentary Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle. The success of the first film garnered a second documentary four years later titled Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay. According to the latter film, the two men were placed in Guantanamo Bay after Kumar was found with an unknown electronic device and controlled substances on a flight to Amsterdam. They escaped from the facility during a highly publicized security breach involving at least three prison guards and a goat, all of whom where subsequently discharged. One of the guards, "Big" Bob, now runs a flooring outlet in Kansas City.

But the authenticity of both films was called into question today as it was discovered that both men are absent from the classified Wikileaks documents. The files contain detailed information about some 158 men held at the facility along with intelligence summaries and assessments. It is unknown who provided the information to Wikileaks, but Secretary Ron Fox released an official statement earlier today relating to the publishing of the documents:

[Holding up a picture of a little girl] Does NPR and The New York Times see this picture of a cute little white girl? With the release of these documents, it is clear that they want to see her get raped and murdered. It is unfortunate that these institutions want to rape America. [He then threw the picture against the wall]

Monday, April 11, 2011

If you've ever searched for a job on LinkedIn, you may have noticed a feature that allows you to search for jobs near a particular zip code. Now I'm guessing most people don't memorize the zip codes for major cities in the US, but no problem. LinkedIn provides a nice little "lookup" link right next to the box. All this sounds just fine. Maybe searching by city would be easier, but it's certainly better than nothing.

But here's the issue. When you click the lookup link, you don't get a simple ajax Javascript popup that allows you to enter a city, and get the correct zip code. You get a new window and this monster:

Even if GeoNames.org has the best zip code lookup system anywhere online, this type of user experience is shockingly bad. I have to search for the city on another site, then copy and paste the zip code back to LinkedIn? Someone needs to prioritize this JIRA story and fast.